The Bride of Christ Ephesians 5:25-27

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The Bride of ChristEphesians 525-27

• Pentecost Sunday
• May 15, 2005

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Jilted Georgia Groom Stands by His Bride
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John Mason

• Havent we all made mistakes? Just
  because we havent walked down the aisle,
  just because we havent stood in front of
  500 people and said our I dos, my
  commitment before God to her was the day I
  bought that ring and put it on her finger, and
  Im not backing down from that.

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Reflections on Ephesians 5

• Paul holds up Christs love for the church as the
  ideal marriage.
• Today, we celebrate the history, the life, the
  ministry and the impact the church of Jesus
  Christ has had on countless generations.

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The Position Christ Surrendered for Us

• Ephesians 525
• Philippians 25-8
• 2 Corinthians 89
• Ephesians 523

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Ephesians 525

• 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ
  loved the church and gave himself up for her

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Historical Perspective

• There is one event
• more significant than
• man walking on the
• moon, and that is
• God walking on the
• earth in the person
• of Jesus Christ.

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Philippians 25-6

• 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of
  Christ Jesus
• 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not
  consider equality with God something to be
  grasped,

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Living Letters Paraphrase of Philippians 26

• He did not demand and cling to His rights as
  God.

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Philippians 27-8

• 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very
  nature of a servant, being made in human
  likeness.
• 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he
  humbled himself and became obedient to death
  even death on a cross!

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Commentary on Philippians 57-8

• Jesus left the hails of glory to come down to
  the nails of Calvary.

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2 Corinthians 89

• 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus
  Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your
  sakes he became poor, so that you through his
  poverty might become rich.

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Ephesians 523

• 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as
  Christ is the head of the church, his body, of
  which he is the Savior.

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The Purity that Christ Grants to Us

• Ephesians 525-26
• Hosea 12-3
• Hosea 31-3
• Philippians 19-10
• 2 Corinthians 112-4
• Proverbs 3119, 23, 28

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Ephesians 525-26

• 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ
  loved the church and gave himself up for her 26
  to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing
  with water through the word,

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Observations

• The Bible not only calls the church the bride of
  Christ, but we are also called the body of
  Christ.
• In John 15, Jesus identifies God as the gardener
  in a vineyard.

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Jesus Has Made His Bride Holy in Two Ways

• He has cleansed us through the washing of water.

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Hosea 12-3

• 2 When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the
  Lord said to him, Go, take to yourself an
  adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness,
  because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery
  in departing from the Lord. 3 So he married
  Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and
  bore him a son.

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Hosea 31-3

• 1 The Lord said to me, Go, show your love to
  your wife again, though she is loved by another
  and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves
  the Israelites, though they turn to other gods
  and love the sacred raisin cakes.
• 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver
  and about a homer and a lethek of barley.

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Hosea 31-3

• 3 Then I told her, You are to live with me many
  days you must not be a prostitute or be intimate
  with any man, and I will live with you.

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Gods Forgiveness Is Not a License to Sin

• As Paul himself would ask, Shall we sin so that
  grace may abound?
• Then He answers his own question, By no means!
• We should want to be a pure, spotless bride
  because He loves us.

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Jesus Has Made His Bride Holy in Two Ways

• He has cleansed us through the washing of water.
• He has cleansed us through the washing of His
  Word.

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Psalmist said

• Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not
  sin against thee.

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Philippians 19-10

• 9 And this is my prayer that your love may
  abound more and more in knowledge and depth of
  insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern
  what is best and may be pure and blameless until
  the day of Christ,

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2 Corinthians 112-4

• 2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I
  promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I
  might present you as a pure virgin to him. 3 But
  I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the
  serpents cunning, your minds may somehow be led
  astray from your sincere and pure devotion to
  Christ.

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Proverbs 3119

• 19 She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her
  hands hold the distaff.

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Proverbs 3123

• 23 Her husband is known in the gates, when he
  sitteth among the elders of the land.

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Proverbs 3128

• 28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed
  her husband also, and he praiseth her.

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The Presentation that Christ Will Make of His
Church One Day

• Ephesians 527
• Revelation 197-9
• Romans 838-39

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Ephesians 527

• 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant
  church, without stain or wrinkle or any other
  blemish, but holy and blameless.

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Revelation 197-9

• 7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!
  For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his
  bride has made herself ready.
• 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to
  wear. (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts
  of the saints.)

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Revelation 197-9

• 9 Then the angel said to me, Write Blessed are
  those who are invited to the wedding supper of
  the Lamb! And he added, These are the true
  words of God.

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Wedding Vows

• I take you to have and to hold from this day
  forward. For better, for worse. For richer, for
  poorer. In sickness and in health. Till death
  do us part.

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Romans 838-39

• 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor
  life, neither angels nor demons, neither the
  present nor the future, nor any powers, 39
  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in
  all creation, will be able to separate us from
  the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.